Department of Education fires more than 1,300 employees, closes offices for security reasons Wednesday
More than 1,300 Department of Education staffers were terminated by the Trump administration on Tuesday after all employees received an ominous notice instructing them to stay home from work.“Today we are beginning the process to cut the total number of staff at the Department of Education roughly in half,” a senior Department of Education official said Tuesday.As part of the “reduction in force” process, 1,315 DOE employees have been laid off.
The official noted that nearly 600 people have already left the department via “voluntary measures,” such as through the federal Deferred Resignation Program and a separate department buyout initiative offered to employees earlier this month, as the Trump administration works to “streamline” the agency.Another 63 staffers on probationary employment, with less than a year of service time, were fired last month.“We are focusing on eliminating full teams whose operations are either redundant or not necessary for the functioning of the department,” the official added, indicating 131 total teams will be terminated.Employees receiving termination notices will get 90 days of full pay and benefits until they are formally fired and will also receive severance pay in the amount of one week’s salary for every year of service beyond 10 years.
“We’re going to have these folks roll over their responsibilities by Friday, March 21st.They will then go on paid administrative leave until the reduction in force is complete,” the official added.
“They will be teleworking from tomorrow until March 21st.Then all of that is being done for safety reasons to protect the 2,183 employees that are going to remain after the RIF is complete.”The official cited student test scores plummeting despite over $1 trillion in federal spending from the department since its inception as the reason for the dramatic cuts.“We have an incredible leader in Secretary [Linda] McMahon, who has built a multibillion dollar global busines...